Equinox Report: Changing Diplomacy and State Structure, Making the Sandum Identity Firm

Every major administrative day, the State of Sandus reflects on the developments it has made in the past quarter. Today is no different. Each quarter is unique in its emphasis and in the specific historical conditions at the time. Today, in the legacy of the Philia Plan for the Great Societal Shift, Sandus has cause to celebrate and to prepare itself further as the rationale for the Plan is quickly approaching: the Sôgmô’s departure for graduate school. On this Vernal Equinox, the State of Sandus hopes to report on the events of the previous season and provide a broad trajectory for the next, especially at this time of important national activity.

Charity Taxes ― Sandus continues its Compassionate Mission:Each quarter day is a day for which Sandum citizens gauge how much charity and philanthropy they have done over the past season. Typically, these are compiled in the days and weeks following the Spring Equinox but a cursory amount is always given by the Sôgmô and other for their charity. At the moment, two citizens have declared their charity taxes.

Sandus has donated, at this time, $395.60USD to charity and had committed 62 hours of philanthropic volunteer work. These include volunteering at food banks, womens’ shelters, animal rights and civil rights charities, as well as support and discussion groups for LGBT, racial, and ethnic minorities.

This philanthropic volunteer work, which has long been considered to be equal to Sandus’s monetary donations and to be overtaking financial donations, has focused more and more on dialogue, tutoring, and support and discussion groups. These sort of interpersonal and group philanthropic work has a personally positive effect on others and on giving them advice during times that certain individuals might need experiential support. Through both this volunteer work and charity, Sandum citizens consistently develop people throughout the world through the virtuous activity of the Sandum Philosophy. The State of Sandus and the Sandum Philosophy are committed to the uplift of suffering people around us and around the world.

Moving toward a Realist Diplomatic Sphere:After the State of Sandus was rejected for a second time for observer membership in the Grand Unified Micronational, Sandum diplomacy is in the process of restructuring. Under the guidance of the Sôgmô and the Diplomatic Affairs minister, the State of Sandus seeks to develop strategic partnerships and bilateral agreements with key micronations. Sandus, moreover, is seeking to extend friendships with key micronations in order to both leave the MicroWiki sphere of the intermicronational community and to exist on its own and with its own right. The period of appeasement toward our enemies and adversaries is at an end; Sandus today must keep its ground while maintaining the peace.

A key part of this restructuring is to shirk Sandus’s historically close ties with the Grand Unified Micronational in favour of the more Realist Francophone organisation, the OMF. The Sôgmô will journey together with the St.Castinian president, Dominic DeSaintes-Bellemare, to the 2017 MicroCon in Atlanta. While there, það will also meet with key OMF leaders, including the current high commissioner and possibly the future general secretary of the organisation. Sandus will also seek to continue developments in its social sphere, especially with the overdue election of a secretary-general of the Systema Socialis.

Sandus’s strategic partnerships will seek to develop specific relationships with micronations which are experienced experts in their respective fields, while moving on from the other, historical inimical relations Sandus has had with other states. These micronational adversaries—which have a perverse, antiquated, and inaccurate vision of the State of Sandus—will no longer be appeased, but Sandus will stand its ground when interacting with other third parties for our mutual benefit.

Sôgmô, Central People’s Government offer first salaried employment:
The Sôgmô and the Central People’s Government have offered their first salaried position in the history of the State of Sandus. The position is for a scriptor, id est a scribe or secretary for the Sôgmô. The position will be responsible for policy projections and equinox and solstice reports, such as this report. The position, which will be closed sometime this Sancta week, will be paid for approximately 8¶c per year.[1]

From this first employed position will come significant changes to the economic system of Sandus. For years, it had been hoped that Sandum citizens would voluntarily join Sandum cooperatives and would do work on behalf of these cooperatives. Today, that seems not to be the case. Instead, in the future, it seems that positions of salaried employment will be offered by cooperatives in the future, in accordance with the State of Sandus’s socialist policies.

[1] Circulatory Persumae (¶c) are not allowed to be exchanged outside of the State of Sandus. A centralised and planned systems of rewards still must be created by the Commission for the Command Economy, which is now an organ of the Citizens’ Party of Sandus, for which Circulatory Persuma may be used. Nominally, the exchange rate is kept by the Bureau of the Treasury based on the number of persumae in circulation over the amount of value in the currency vault. 8¶c is currently equal to approximately $8.37USD.

Bureau of the Treasury seeks to establish State Bank CivBanca:
The Bureau of the Treasury of the Office of the Sôgmô of the Central People’s Government of the State of Sandus is seeking to establish a State bank, tentatively called CivBanca. The proposed bank will include basic debit functions, direct deposit functions for State employment, and debit payment functions. Future credit and money-lending functions may be considered sometime in the future, in addition to the basic bank functions.

Toward making the Sandum Identity firmer:
Finally, in the coming months, greater emphasis will be placed on disseminating Sandum identity amongst Sandum citizens. Already, Sandus has made a clear effort consistently to share information about Sandum holidays, but recent developments might affect future social and economic expectations. For example, in the future, Sandum citizens might be encouraged to be employed by any of the Sandum cooperatives (with the exception of the Party, which is reserved for Party members) for a fixed salary in order to fulfil some sort of leitourgía to the State of Sandus. For example, the workers of the Fornux branch of the Tellus Agrarian Cooperative might be asked to prepare traditional Sandum blueberry vatrushki in order to celebrate Remembrance Day in Sandus. Members of the Collegium Sacerdotium may be asked to perform rituals or create objects for important cultural holidays, such as Easter for Christians or Armilustrium for Sandum main culture.

The emphasis for Sandum cooperatives should not be to make a profit, but instead to pursue the substantive development of the State of Sandus. For this end, cooperatives can be used to develop and to disseminate Sandum culture throughout the various provinces.